


Death and Love are the two wings that bear the good man to Heaven

by Musetotheworld



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angel!Kara, F/F, SuperCat Slam, angel au, archangel!Astra, human!Cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-11 22:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10475475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: Kara is a guardian angel assigned to Cat Grant. But she isn't always the most focused. So the Archangels send her to Earth to learn the importance of her duties.





	

“Kara, are you paying attention?” Astra asks sharply, already knowing the answer. Of all the angels in Heaven, Kara Zor-El was the one least likely to be paying attention.

“Yes, Archangel,” Kara says contritely, but Astra can see the effort it takes to pull her focus back to the meeting.

Astra briefly considers calling Kara on her bluff and sending her out without the review Astra knows she needs, but ultimately that would only result in difficulty for the human whose care she’ll be responsible for. “Then to review,” Astra says instead, giving Kara a look that tells her the lie hadn’t been believed, “the human you will be guiding is Catherine Grant, who has recently reached adulthood and so is ready for a permanently assigned angel rather than the childhood guardians. Do you understand the responsibilities you will be taking on?”

Kara nods until Astra sends her another sharp look, not happy with the informality. “Yes, Archangel. I’m ready for this.”

Astra has her doubts, but she can’t hold Kara back any longer. She’s been working with children for too many years now, part of a group of younger angels that work together to provide support and protection for several children all at once. It’s the guardian angel equivalent of training, and Kara is currently the oldest angel in the program by far.

No, it’s time for Kara to spread her wings and take on some actual responsibility. She’s an angel of God, for Heaven’s sake. She’s meant for this.

Astra just hopes Kara remembers that, before her human pays the price.

***

It turns out that being the only guardian angel assigned to someone is boring. Kara barely makes it through the first day without getting distracted. At least children were constantly moving, and there were other angels around to talk to and keep her company.

Technically there are other angels around now as well, but once you’re assigned to a specific human you’re bound to their world. Except in times of grave danger when you might need the support of your fellow angels, you’re on your own. Which means that after a day spent watching Catherine, no she preferred to go by Cat, attend boring lectures and spend hours looking through boring books, Kara was beginning to find paying attention a little difficult.

Really, it’s not her fault there was a puppy hanging out the window of a car as Cat walked to class. And maybe she still should have been paying attention to her charge and not the excited wiggles from a dog that could actually see her, but he was so cute. He kept trying to get her to pet him, and Kara just couldn’t resist.

And her guardian senses kicked in with plenty of time to warn her of danger to Cat, so it’s not the biggest deal that she’d had to make someone walking in front of Cat spill his latte and spark a lecture on watching where he’s going that kept Cat out of the road and away from the reckless driver that hadn’t been paying attention. It does earn her a brief contact with the man’s angel as the worlds brush that’s full of displeased looks, but what can you do after all? It was his latte or Cat’s life.

And the next week when Cat nearly spills boiling water on herself, Kara barely manages to get back from studying the way the sunbeams shine through the clouds in time to make the pan splash the other way. So her dinner is ruined, but at least she wasn’t hurt.

Or the time the next month that Cat forgets her lecture notes on the day of a major presentation, and Kara has to hide the professor’s notes so the lecture has to switch topics and everyone gets an extension on the assignment. (A few of the other angels send her disapproving looks for that, but a few seem almost thankful that she’d done it so they didn’t have to.)

Every month or so is something new, and Kara actually begins to enjoy needing to find unorthodox solutions to the problems that come up. It’s almost like a game, one that distracts her from the monotony of watching over Cat’s every move. 

And most of the time it’s nothing serious, just small things like forgotten papers and minor injuries. Kara mostly manages to prevent them, and that’s the important thing. Her charge is alive and well, the specifics aren’t really the point of it all.

At least, that’s what Kara thinks for years, until she nearly lets Cat get run over  _ again, _ and suddenly she’s in Heaven facing a full tribunal of Archangels. Their disapproving glares have Kara shrinking back as if from a physical blow, afraid to say a single word in her own defense.

She doesn’t need to speak though, they can all see her actions as if they were there, faster than thought. There’s no way to make excuses, no way to weasel out of trouble.

“Your lack of focus is troubling, Kara Zor-El,” Astra says, and Kara flushes at the knowledge that she’d disappointed her mentor.

“I have no excuse, Archangel Astra In-Ze,” she says formally, hoping that with a display of maturity they might go easy on her. It’s not likely, but it’s all she has right now.

“The Council is well aware. Your actions, and lack thereof, are inexcusable. They show a lack of discipline that is unbefitting an angel of the Lord.” Kara almost winces at the words, but it’s not as if the criticism is unexpected. “As such, a punishment has been decided.”

That also was about what Kara had expected, and she steels herself to hear her fate. She’d endangered the life of her charge, whatever the Council decided, it would be fair. Minor mishaps were one thing, but a human life was precious and important. While there were times a loss was unavoidable, inattention was not a valid reason to come as close as she had.

“I am ready to receive your judgement,” Kara says as she kneels, wishing she dared pray. But to pray in such a situation would be an insult and a mockery, and her mind stays silent as she waits.

“You will return to Earth,” Astra begins, and Kara keeps her gaze lowered as her brows knit together in confusion. She’d been on Earth. “You will watch over and guard your charge. You will have the same duties as before, but you will be tied to the mortal world rather than the Heavenly plane. You will know hunger, fatigue, and pain. And though these things will trouble you, you will learn to set those distractions aside for the good of your charge.”

Banishment. Kara was being banished.

The punishment sends the breath from her lungs, and for long seconds she can’t think, can’t move, can’t react at all. She’s never been cut off from Heaven before, never heard of an angel that was. True, she’d still have her duty, her charge to protect, but she’d be in the human’s world and not her own.

“What effect will the human world have upon my abilities?” Kara asks shakily, trying to seem as if the punishment hasn’t thrown her completely. Maybe if she can get through the rest of the tribunal without making a fool of herself, the banishment won’t last as long. Maybe she can impress them somehow.

“You will retain the full measure of your angelic powers,” Archangel Nam-Tor says, looking at her solemnly. “We will not risk the life of your charge to teach you a lesson. It is our hope that what you must learn, you will find along the way. As such, your ability to influence the world will remain, as will your ability to hide your true nature from the humans you will encounter. Though you will know pain, you need not fear death.”

“We have not banished an angel to Earth for many centuries,” Astra picks up as Nam-Tor falls silent, and Kara looks up at the pain in her words. “It is not something that we do lightly, Kara Zor-El. It is the path we feel most likely to impress upon you the gravity of your responsibility. And should you reach the point that you truly understand that, the way to Heaven will be open to you once more.”

Kara nods her head in understanding, grateful that the Council seems to be going easy on her, considering the seriousness of the charges. She has no misconceptions about how difficult this is likely to be, but at least she isn’t bound to Earth forever. She has a specific goal to accomplish, and she can handle that.

***

Staying close enough to Cat to offer any kind of protection  is a lot harder when people can see her, Kara quickly discovers. Especially when they see a young woman who is constantly overwhelmed by the sheer noise and commotion of the human world. Not exactly the kind of person that usually hangs out around Cat Grant.

Kara toys with the idea of simply flying to Cat’s side and revealing herself after she struggles the first few days, but she knows Cat well enough by now to know that’s not the way to go. She could prove she was an angel, but Cat would be more likely to think it was a sign her mind was going than believe anything Kara told her. Not exactly the best start to keeping Cat’s life safe and in order.

But Kara needs access, needs to be at Cat’s side as much as possible, which means she needs to find a way to make that happen.

Thankfully her angelic powers extend to forging references and employment history, and before the first week is out Kara shows up for a job interview as Cat’s assistant. It will mean more work than just protecting Cat, but it’s the only way Kara can stay close enough to accomplish her primary goal of guiding and guarding.

Kara’s long familiarity with Cat’s habits and wishes gives her an undeniable edge when it comes to working as her assistant, and as she’d hoped the constant closeness gives her plenty of chances to make sure Cat is safe. She does still deal with distractions, and learning to ignore them isn’t any easier than she’d expected. But Cat’s displeasure with delays is a great motivator, and it doesn’t take too long for Kara to at least learn how to pretend she’s paying attention with far more success than she’d ever had in the past.

Slowly, she gets better. She learns to balance the necessary work as Cat’s assistant with her duties as the woman’s guardian angel. She’s not perfect, being in the human world means she’s more likely to focus on the assistant aspect of her life and not the angelic part, but she’s at least keeping Cat safe and healthy with greater success than she’d had as a purely angelic being.

That balance takes them through about two years, with Kara gradually learning what she thinks is the lesson she’d been sent here to learn. It’s not easy, and every evening she spreads her wings to fly up into the sky, the only way she still has to be close to Heaven. She knows this is a punishment, that it’s what she deserves and a lesson she needs, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. The Council had been right, being on Earth is a pain she’d never known before.

It’s not until Cat drops a glass that Kara learns of a different kind of pain. One that leaves blood dripping from her finger as she stares in shock. Angels don’t bleed, they’re invulnerable to any form of physical harm, so nothing in Kara’s experience could have prepared her for this.

“I told you to wait,” Cat says as she grabs a few tissues, and through the pain Kara realizes the importance of Cat being willing to patch her up. The woman is notoriously germophobic, and Kara has only seen her willing to help her son. “Are you alright?” she asks, presumably worried when Kara remains silent.

“I’m bleeding,” Kara says, still staring at her hand in shock.

“Yes, that does tend to happen when handling glass,” Cat snarks, though the facade seems to slip away when she notices how intently Kara is still staring at her hand. “It’s a scratch, Kara. It will bleed a bit, and if it’s bad enough then we’ll have someone take you for stitches, but it’s not serious. Surely you’ve had a scratch before.”

“No, never,” Kara says faintly before she can think, only realizing how that would sound when Cat looks at her in shock, finally close enough to press the wad of tissue to the cut.

“Here, hold that in place while I grab a bandage,” is all Cat says, but Kara can see the questions in the woman’s eyes and knows they’ll come out later. Maybe the whole ‘stick close to her’ plan hadn’t been the smartest after all.

But then Kara thinks of the time spent at Cat’s side, learning to see the beauty that is her life. She’s seen a side of the woman that hadn’t been accessible while Kara was on a separate plane, one that reveals a surprising depth to the person Kara had thought she’d known better than anyone could.

But speaking with Cat, talking to her, learning from her, all of those had made their mark on Kara over the years. She finally sees why humanity is worth guiding and protecting. It’s not an abstract thought to her now, it’s something important that deserves her full attention and focus. Something precious and unique, every life different but deserving of care and love just the same.

And in the blink of an eye, Kara is standing in front of the Council once more, staring in shock as she looks around the room. She hadn’t expected this, whatever revelation she’d been having, and suddenly she feels the loss of her Earthly self the same way she’d felt the loss of Heaven when she’d been banished.

“You impress us, Kara Zor-El,” Astra says, stepping forward and offering her hands in the angelic sign of welcome. “There were those on the Council that felt it would take decades for you to realize the importance of what we protect.”

“How could I not see the truth when standing so close to a light that burns brighter than the sun in the sky?” Kara answers, still reeling from the transition. She’s had years on Earth to lose the formality of Heaven, and she struggles to regain it, knowing the Council will not be impressed by the casual nature of human interactions.

“The Council has agreed to welcome you back into the angelic ranks,” Astra says, careful smile on her face as she gives Kara the news. “Your time on Earth has ended, your banishment is done. Welcome home, Kara Zor-El.”

The news should be the greatest thing Kara has ever heard, but all she can think of is what she’s leaving behind. How can the Council expect her to see the beauty of human life, of Cat’s life, and come back without hesitation? For all that Heaven can offer, it pales in comparison to the warmth of Cat’s touch, of her smile.

“You hesitate,” Archangel Kas-Ran says when the silence stretches on, sharing a knowing look with a few of the other Archangels. “This is why I advised against banishment as a punishment, the lesson has been learned but that isn’t all.”

“You love the human,” Astra says, realization dawning on her face as she turns back to Kara.

“How could I not?” Kara says again, not sure what else there is to say. Two years at Cat’s side, protecting her, helping her run the company, learning to see the depths of the woman she’d watched over for so many years, after all of that how could she feel anything different than the way she does now?

“She may not love you in return,” Astra warns, and Kara nods her understanding.

“To be in her warmth would be enough.” One lifetime, that’s all she could have with Cat anyway. It might be better to love from a distance, never knowing the depth of a true connection between them.

“Then return to Earth, Kara Zor-El, and go with our blessing. May your life there bring you peace until we welcome you into Heaven once more.”

Kara blinks, and she’s back in Cat’s office, watching as the woman gathers the first aid supplies for her finger. It’s yet another shock and abrupt transition, and Kara doesn’t notice the lack of pain in her finger until Cat is directing her to pull the tissue away so she can disinfect the wound.

Except there is no wound, no blood, no sign that Kara had cut herself at all. If she hadn’t seen the blood and felt the pain, she wouldn’t believe she’d ever been hurt.

“That’s not possible,” Cat says, staring at the unblemished skin. “What the hell, Kara?”

“Heaven, actually,” Kara says, knowing instinctively that the situation demands the truth. She can’t lie to Cat any longer, and the instinctive urgings that have always been a part of knowing what Cat needs are pushing her forward. “I’m, well, I’m your guardian angel, Cat. At least I think I still am.”

“You’re insane,” Cat says flatly, standing and pacing away, and Kara knows she only has this one chance to convince her.

So she stands herself and moves to the balcony, away from the prying eyes of the bullpen. Kara wants Cat to see the truth, to understand who and what she is, but that secret isn’t for everyone else.

“I’m an angel, Cat. I’m your angel.” And with that she lets her wings unfurl, stretching behind her and shining in the sunlight, catching the beam that seems to shine directly upon her from Heaven itself.

“This is crazy,” Cat whispers, shakily walking out of her office and to Kara’s side. “Angels aren’t real.”

“I don’t know, I feel pretty real to me,” Kara teases, hoping it will help Cat out of her shock. “We don’t usually come to Earth, but that’s a long story all on its own.”

One of Cat’s hands comes up to stroke at the feathers of Kara’s wing, a look of awe crossing her face as her disbelief seems to fade. “You’re going to tell it to me, aren’t you?”

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Kara promises, grateful that Cat isn’t running, or sending her away.

“Cancel my day first, I think this is going to take a while.”

***

It’s years before Kara opens her eyes to look upon Heaven once more, but this time she feels as if she’s coming home. She’d had her years with Cat, years in which she’d fallen more and more in love with every day. Years in which Cat had done the same. Years of happiness and joy that had rivaled anything Heaven could offer, because it was based on a depth of emotion that couldn’t be matched.

But humans grow old, they have their one life and then pass on, and not even Kara had been able to stop that. Not that she would. Cat deserved to experience the joy of Heaven after the troubles of life, and Kara wouldn’t keep her from that.

“Kara Zor-El, once again you have impressed us,” she hears Astra say, but can’t manage to raise her head as she works through the loss of Cat at her side. It’s what had needed to happen, what Kara had always known would happen, but that doesn’t mean the loss isn’t felt.

“I am grateful the Council thinks so,” Kara manages when the silence stretches on long enough for her to realize they’re waiting for a response.

“Do not grieve, child,” Astra says, but Kara doesn’t know how to do anything but. “Kara, look up at me.” The direct command from an Archangel is something no angel can deny, and though her eyes are still full of tears Kara complies.

Only to have the tears seize and her breath catch, because standing next to Astra is Cat. Cat, who should be with the other humans, who should be enjoying Heaven the way it was meant for her. Who shouldn’t be standing in the company of the Council. It’s never happened before.

“Your bond is stronger than you knew, and there is no undoing it,” Astra says, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that change has come to Heaven. “Neither of you are entirely as you once were, together you are something new entirely.”

“What does this mean?” Kara asks, still struggling to understand.

“We have eternity to learn the answer to that question,” Astra says with a small laugh, and that almost more than anything shocks Kara. “For now, after the grief you experienced, I think the two of you deserve a little time.”

Kara can only nod before Cat is crossing to her side, and at the sight of her wife moving Kara meets her halfway, pulling her into a hug that lifts her from the ground.

“Put me down, you insufferable angel,” Cat says with a sigh, but the way she clings to Kara’s shoulders takes any sting from the words. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“And I thought I’d lost you,” Kara whispers, still holding Cat close. “I’m so glad I didn’t.”

“And you never will,” Cat promises, holding just as tightly as Kara. “Eternity, Kara. We have eternity together.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to expand this but that didn't happen, so maybe in the future! I know it's a little rushed and I apologize for that, but at least it's something!


End file.
